In a major step toward justice in the brutal murder of an elderly widow, the prime accused—her trusted caretaker—has been placed on five-day transit remand by a Surat court and is being escorted back to Odisha.
On November 11, 2026, the 8th Additional Senior Civil Judge & Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM), Surat, issued a transit warrant for Balbhadra Maharana (also referred to as Balabhadra Ramcharan Maharana), aged 41, a resident of Surat (originally from Tangi in Khurda district, Odisha). Custody was formally handed over to Sub-Inspector Subhasmita Muduli of Bhubaneswar’s Laxminagar/Laxmisagar Police Station from 2:00 PM on November 11 until 11:00 AM on November 16. The order requires police to produce him before the nearest magistrate on or before November 16. The warrant relates to FIR No. 777 dated November 4, 2026, under Section 311 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The case stems from the murder of 76-year-old Kunjalata Nanda (widow of retired Divisional Forest Officer Hadibandhu Nanda) at her residence in Buddha Nagar under Laxmisagar Police limits in Bhubaneswar. Living alone after her husband’s death several months earlier—with sons in the United States and Hyderabad/Mumbai and daughters elsewhere—she had employed Maharana as caretaker for roughly 4–6 months after local police verification of his antecedents.
On the night of November 3, police allege Maharana disabled the home’s CCTV, restrained Nanda (hands and legs bound in some accounts), and killed her during a robbery. Preliminary post-mortem findings pointed to death by suffocation/strangulation, with injury marks on the neck, head, and other parts of the body. He allegedly looted cash (reports range from about ₹32,000 to ₹60,000), 40–60 grams of gold jewellery, and a family scooter before fleeing. There were no signs of forced entry. Some accounts describe him ransacking the house for hours after a disappointing haul (valuables were reportedly kept in a bank locker) and using a sharp object.
Maharana absconded immediately, travelling first to Ludhiana in Punjab and then to Surat in Gujarat. He frequently changed locations and mobile numbers to evade tracking and was planning to proceed to Delhi. Acting on intelligence, the Surat Crime Branch and Vadodara Rural Special Operations Group conducted a joint operation and arrested him near Krishna Hotel in Karjan along National Highway 48 around November 10–11. Some of the stolen property, including jewellery, was recovered from him.
Section 311 BNS (equivalent to the former IPC Section 397) covers robbery or dacoity involving the use of a deadly weapon, causing grievous hurt, or attempting to cause death or grievous hurt, and carries a minimum sentence of seven years’ imprisonment. It is cognizable and non-bailable.
The swift multi-state coordination and transit remand mark a significant breakthrough in a case that has intensified concerns about the safety of senior citizens living alone and dependent on domestic help in urban Odisha. Laxmisagar Police are expected to interrogate Maharana further upon his return and produce him in court by November 16.
